Lydia announced my newest quest development:
“Quest Evolving
Attain a New Class!
XP Gained: 100
XP Reward: 400
Item Reward: Cloak F Tier, Tools F Tier
You are choosing to walk a specialized path. Travel to the Auvaine Vineyard and investigate their mausoleum to speak with the Imprint of Anaya.”
I lowered my wrist and the dialog window winked out. Looking askance at Theodora, I asked, “I can’t imagine that this information is free.”
She considered that and smirked, “Making progress toward descent down the Spiral is enough for me.”
“I find that hard to believe.”
She turned to me with innocent wide eyes and said, “I don’t require your approval for my motivations.”
Eyeing her with concern I grumbled, “I guess visiting with Anaya is the best option. I’m going to make my way toward the vineyard then.”
As I made my way toward the graveyard wall she called after me, “Mal?”
Turning I saw that she was still balancing on the tombstone her eyes focused on her task as she said non-chalantly, “I know not who this Larry is, but if I for a moment suspect that you are attempting to harm me, I promise that your world is not far enough to run from me.”
Eyeing the dangerous vampire for a long moment I turned and left her there. Did she seriously think I was going to take the threats of an NPC to heart? And yet… the thought of my new RIG somehow invading my consciousness loomed in the dark recesses of my mind giving the threat a surprising amount of weight.
As I hurried toward the wall I sent a subvocal message to Lydia, “Lyd, send all the footage from that interaction to Larry at Catacomb. Is Olivia gone?”
She answered quickly, “Done. Olivia has departed for the day. She cleaned the kitchen and the bathroom. She is very talkative.”
Slowing at a corner when I saw several hulking shapes pass in the mist I asked, “Oh yeah? What did she want to talk about?”
“She asked how long I had been with you and if I had been present for some of your more famous raids. She was very interested in your former guild managing to clear the Azure Spires dungeon before all other competitors.”
That pulled vivid memories to the forefront. Azure Spires had been one of the first raids that Sydney planned and ran as raid leader. She truly was the iron fist of the guild. It all paid off with sponsorships and guild expansion on a massive scale. I was so proud of what the guild accomplished during that run. It was a couple of years before my rivalry with Cameron Lake began, and my descent into dictator of the guild truly took hold.
Reaching a stone building just ten meters from the fence I spoke up to her, “Alright Lyd, keep me apprised of anything strange that happens at the house and as long as it doesn’t compromise any personal or sensitive information,” I paused and closed my eyes as I said, “don’t hesitate to tell the kid anything she wants to know.”
“You got it, sugar.”
Beyond the fence I could just make out dull white tents and occasional muted torches. A figure in black and red garb strode by with a sword on their hip only to vanish into the mist.
Without pausing to think I sprinted to the fence and hauled myself up on the black wrought iron. Climbing as quickly and silently as I could manage I scaled the wall with only a slight creak from the metal structure. With a final heave I pulled myself up and over the spikes atop the fence and let myself fall to the ground, cushioning the drop with a roll.
“Forward Order Blockade
The Immolated Order has promised the people of L’Chasse that they will prevent this newly arising Remnant Crusade. This blockade acts to keep Remnants from leaving the confines of the Necropolis. However, trying to surround the entire area has stretched their forces awfully thin.
Questing: Level 5-10”
I hurried to the edge of one of the tents. Pausing and listening, I swore I could hear two people making love on the other side. Shaking my head I set off, dashing from the shadows of tent to tent making my way toward what must be an eventual end to the camp. Kneeling in the shadow of another much larger tent, I caught another conversation.
“The Inquisitor says maybe ten days before we set the whole place to the flame,” said a flat emotionless voice that had a whiny tinge.
“Bless the lady and bless the hand of her judgment,” said a stern female voice with similar affectation.
The weasley man answered, “Bless her, and bless our endeavor.”
“Any word on Sevrin’s contingent?”
At that I continued on through the shadows skirting the edge of a large campfire that seemed to act as both a cooking area and a place of worship. Men and women in black and red robes milled around the area wearing heavy hoods that provided some protection from the mist and rain. With the light of the bonfires to expose their features I finally got a good look at these cultists.
They were not the purple hued denizens of this realm like my avatar and every other NPC I had encountered. They seemed human in appearance, this particular cultist had dark hued skin, a unibrow, and a split lip, but had the added affectation of veins of creeping golden hued light underneath their skin. The more faces I saw I realized these light scars were more or less prominent depending on the individual but one factor that each of the cultists shared was a flat expressionless face. These cultists were more like zombies than most of the remnants that I encountered.
Leaving the fire behind, I slipped back into the shadows around the tents. Just as I felt that I was about to reach the edge of the encampment I was shocked as someone stepped through the flaps in a tent before me. It was a young woman, maybe in her early twenties with short auburn hair, wide green eyes and the telltale spidery golden veins twisting beneath her skin.
She looked directly at me and hesitated a moment before starting to reach for a sword on her hip. She stuttered out the first words of an alarm. In a panic I looked deep into her eyes and willed Eyes of Theodora to activate.
I held up my hands and whispered with the strength of my ability, “Whoa, you’re jumping at shadows,” the young woman’s hand faltered on the hilt of her weapon and she beamed at me in genuine elation.
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Somehow the look on her face was familiar to me. The stutter on her lips turned from a scream to a whispered welcome, “Hello baby.” She moved close to me and before I could react she leaned in and kissed me deeply.
I was so stunned that I didn’t pull away, returning the kiss and slipping my arms around her.
So familiar.
She finally broke the kiss and I saw tears in this strange woman’s eyes as she looked at me with genuine love, “I knew you would come for me.”
Nodding numbly, I kept the charm activated, fully aware that it was quickly draining my Essence. Glancing around us I whispered to her, “Yeah… I’m here but I have to leave the camp for a little while. Will you walk with me?”
She gave me a sly grin and nodded as she stepped out beside me. The two of us walked toward the edge of the camp, strolling in the open. A pair of guards saw us but looked away when they saw that I was almost arm and arm with the guard.
Feeling the need to speak, I asked, “How long have you been here?”
Her nose crinkled in a still familiar way and she said, “A really long time, but now that you’re here everything can be right again.”
Nodding, I walked together with her to the edge of the camp’s light. I turned to her and leaned forward, kissing her forehead, she giggled excitedly and when I leaned away I saw more tears in her eyes.
“I’m going to need you to not tell anyone you saw me.”
My hand shook as I dropped it to the hilt of one of my daggers.
She cocked her head in surprise, her smile wide and loving as she said, “Why would I do that?”
My hand faltered on the hilt and I let it fall away, nodding to her as I turned to move away.
She called after me, her voice dulled by the mist, “I’m waiting for you.”
Looking back I saw that she had turned and was walking back into the camp, shaking her head as if confused.
In the enveloping cold mist I watched her depart with deep unease.
Sighing, I turned away from the camp raising my wrist to activate the notifications from my time in the Necropolis as I ran into the mist shrouded countryside. My eyes widened as I listened to Lydia read out a huge number of notifications including a level up from six to seven. While some were simple statistical gains with little other information there were several skill level ups from the Novice to Trained skill level:
“You are now Trained in the Stealth skill.
Choose a Specialty: Hiding, Silent Movement, Shadowing, Crowds
You are now Trained in the Acrobatics skill.
Choose a Specialty: Balance, Dodging, Performance, Parkour
You are now Trained in the Unarmed skill.
Choose a Specialty: Martial Arts, Wrestling, Dirty Fighting, Disarm
You are now Trained in the Dual Wield skill.
This skill does not have a specialty.”
After a quick perusal of the specialties for my newly Trained skills I chose Silent Movement, Dodging, and Martial Arts as my focuses. They came with the following additional bonuses.
“Silent Movement: You now move at 75% speed while in stealth rather than 50%.
Dodging: Dodging attacks and the Evade skill now cost 20% less Life Essence.
Martial Arts: Damage with Unarmed Attacks now rely on your Agility rather than your Strength.”
In addition the Dual Wield skill, which had no specialty, added another bonus:
“Your Agility is considered twenty points higher for the purposes of strike speed, and five points lower for the purposes of accuracy while Dual Wielding. All attacks with your off-hand weapon cause ? half normal damage.”
Finally, I received the Barter skill, presumably for my lengthy back and forth with the tutorial merchant and leaving little Lord Cardienne with a wet spot in his armored pants.
“Barter
Rarity: Common
Requirements: None
Training Level: Novice 4
Key Ability: Reason
Description
The gift of charismatic manipulation for cold hard profit!
Silver Tongue
Your Charisma is considered higher (+1 per level of Barter) for the purposes of trading goods for goods.
With that handled, I closed my notifications and continued on with Lydia announcing the name of the open zone beyond the camp:
“L’Chasse Plains
Once the beautiful open plains of a moonlit world, these plains are dying and filled with alien monsters and bandits.
Questing: Level 5-10”
Very little vegetation survived in the hilly rock strewn country. What was there was faded, sickly and lilac hued. Before long I emerged from the pervading mist to find myself under the endless star strewn sky. Above I could see other floating stone satellites of the Spiral and far beyond them the bright slowly strobing glow of its center. Around me I spotted occasional trees but with bone colored bark and rich purple leaves.
After nearly an hour I crested a hill to look down on a broad valley. Filling most of its lowlands was an expansive field surrounding what looked like a combination mansion and winery. I was preparing to start down the twisting path below toward the valley when I heard something shift behind me.
Summoning my daggers into my hands immediately I spun to meet whatever was stalking me. Something massive hurtled out of the darkness and collided with me carrying me down the hill slope and into the stoney outcroppings with tremendous force. I felt my health plummet and gasped a stunned cry as I hammered both my daggers up into the beast’s hide and activated Slice.
The creature rolled off me and yowled. I could see now that it was a massive panther-like creature with six eyes and a tongue that lolled out of its massive blade-like jaws like a prehensile tentacle. It yowled and the darkness was dispelled as cerulean light pulsed down stripes that ran the length of its body.
Staggering backward I gestured forward throwing out a slowing quick trap between myself and the creature. It dug in its claws and charged at me. The simple trap closed over its front paw and it, likely because of my terrible Spirit, was only slowed long enough to shake off the trap into a pile of useless junk.
It charged me and led with a claw. I deflected enough force to duck under it and snap my blades across its already bloodied chest, digging my off-hand up to the hilt in its breast before I had to roll away. The beast's claw tore into the ground where I had just been standing as it yowled in fury.
It roared and charged me again, its prehensile tongue snapping out and around my forearm to yank me toward its jaws. They snapped closed just short of my limb with terrible force. Summoning another dagger I slashed up and through the tendril causing the beast to let out a screech and tumble away. I charged and changed my dagger out with my Weeping Hammer. Leaping through the air I brought the hammer down with an activation of Thump. The beast screeched and staggered as it tried to stand.
I roared my own challenge and brutally brought my off-hand blade down into its widened azure eyes, destroying several and throwing its glowing blue blood all over my arms and chest. It tried to stand once again and I drove the dagger into it one final time, the length hammering into its vacant eye socket and into what I hoped was its brain.
The beast staggered and tried to stand but finally fell still. Struggling to my feet with almost empty Essence and ten percent of my health remaining I studied the giant feline corpse and its dark blue blood, “Is… is drinking blue blood safe?”
“Mal, you get yourself into some weird shit,” I muttered with a sigh.
Kneeling, I sank my fangs into the animal’s neck. Its flesh shuddered as I drained its blood. The Blooded buff dropped into my notifications and I pulled away, wiping a shaking arm over my stained chin.
Pressing a hand to the creature’s head I looted its valuables and Lydia read their descriptions in her slow drawl:
“Spiral Stalker Hide
Type: Crafting Component
Rarity: Uncommon
Tier: F
Spiral Stalker Claws x 6
Type: Crafting Component
Rarity: Uncommon
Tier: F”
Stretching on the hillside I looked up at the sky as all my considerable wounds knitted themselves back together, he significant tears in my avatar’s flesh closing before my eyes. This vampire race was insanely strong. As long I didn’t find myself surrounded by enemies who couldn’t bleed… or ones that worshiped some kind of insane fire goddess.
Maybe it wasn’t as strong as I thought.
When all of my wounds had healed I surveyed the terrain of the vineyard. I noted with concern that it appeared to be patrolled by figures carrying torches and… speak of the devil, more cultists. Great.
